Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

On the east bank of Dianchi Lake, New China unearthed an ancient Dian cultural site and unearthed tens of thousands of bronze vessels.

Later, the government used this to build a cultural tourism project and turned it into the "Colorful Yunnan Famous Ancient Dian City Resort".

At this moment, it is called Dawu Cong.

The Wu family of the Bai people in Dali also recognized their ancestors as Ji Chang's uncle and Taibo, the founder of the Wu Kingdom.

The Wu family was not very prosperous in the Dali Kingdom, so naturally they could not separate themselves into one party. Most of them were retainers of various wealthy families with different surnames.

The Wu family of Wu Long has been a retainer of the Gao family for generations, helping the Gao family manage the Shanchan Mansion.

In Dianchi Lake, seven or eight fast boats sailed to all directions.

One of the fast boats docked at Dawu Long. After a young man landed, he hurried to the Wu family's Wubao.

"Fourth uncle, the master of the family has an order!"

When the young man saw the person in charge of Wubao, he said anxiously: "Chenggong has been captured by the Ming army. Our Wu family immediately gathered soldiers to defend the Wulong cage as the first priority. Juqiao (Jinning District) further south, The Yangcheng Castle Division (Shangsuan Town, Jinning District) and other places have already sent ships to gather troops. All troops from various ministries and towns must move closer here, waiting for orders to go north to surround the enemy! "

Wu Yizhen sighed: "There are remnants of the Jiazong tribe who have escaped to report the news. I know that Chenggong has been captured, so I have already ordered the troops to gather. But the young men under my jurisdiction have been recruited, and even the clan soldiers are mostly in Shanchan (Kunming) , We have only gathered 200 troops now. We may be able to defend Wu Fort by bringing in the old, weak, women and children, but we may not be able to attack the enemy in the north. "

"Then just defend Wubao and prevent the Ming army from plundering and escaping southward." The young man said.

…

Chenggong.

Six thousand Ming troops and more than a thousand auxiliary soldiers and civilians were sleeping soundly, while only a few were still standing guard inside and outside the stronghold.

Li Shao, the son of Li Gong, a former Guangxi martial arts scholar in the former Song Dynasty, raised his hands and said to Yang Zaixing: "General, the food obtained here is not much, it is only enough for us people to eat for three or four days. After interrogating the prisoners, it was learned that the strength of the Jiazong tribe We have already transferred supplies and grain to Shanchan City in the past two days. Even the remaining grain and grass have to be transported to Shanchan."

Yang Zaixing's eyes lit up when he heard this: "In other words, the troops around Dian Lake are all in Shanchan, and going south are all fortresses with empty defenses?"

Li Shao nodded and said: "Yes, there are not many soldiers in the south, and all the young men who can fight have been taken away."

Yang Zaixing said: "The soldiers and horses are quite tired. Let's rest for two or three hours first. Let the soldiers who have rested dismantle the wood in the village to make siege ladders, and then go to surprise the Wu cage after nightfall!"

"Secretary!"

"exist!"

"Bring me the information related to Dawu Cong."

The military secretary immediately took out the box, rummaged through it, and quickly unfolded a pamphlet and handed it to Yang Zaixing.

Yang Zaixing thought:

"Da Wu Long, the Wu family of Shanchan has lived here for generations, and their descendants are all retainers of the Gao family."

"The Wu Clan has Wu's Wu Fort, which is adjacent to Dianchi Lake in the west, river in the south, mountains in the east, and flat land in the north. The Wu Fort is smaller, with a circumference of about 60 feet (190 meters), and a wall height of about 1 foot or 2 feet (less than 10 feet). four meters).”

"I don't know how many households there are in Dawulong. Every time I sent out troops, the Wu family's troops were less than a thousand..."

Then, Yang Zaixing looked at other information nearby. After reading it, he smiled and said, "This is easy to fight."

About an hour later, the soldiers on sentry duty by the lake reported that hundreds of ships had appeared in Dianchi Lake, and the ships were filled with enemy flags.

Yang Zaixing personally picked up the telescope and went to check it out.

Most of those ships were merchant ships and fishing boats, and they should have been temporarily requisitioned for fighting. Guandu City, where the Gao family is located, is currently a commercial center with a radius of hundreds of miles, and countless merchant ships dock there all year round.

Perhaps out of fear of the Ming army, or perhaps waiting for the main force, the Dali army from Dian Lake did not land directly to fight.

Yang Zaixing ordered: "The cavalry is divided into two groups and takes turns to go out to explore the enemy's situation. When encountering a large group of enemy troops, do not entangle them and just retreat. The cavalry who are not on the wheel should seize the time to sleep, and the auxiliary soldiers will help take care of the horses. The rest of the soldiers, in addition to being on duty, Those who are sentry should also go to bed quickly to refresh themselves.”

In the Dian Lake not far from the mountain village, hundreds of Dali troop transport ships were cruising, but the Ming army officers and soldiers turned a blind eye and slept soundly.

What is elite?

Yang Zaixing's infantry and cavalry all wore light armor, and the proportion of firearms was not very high.

Their equipment is inferior to that of the Ming Army in the north, even to some of the main garrison troops, but they are indeed an elite field army.

Being able to sleep peacefully even when the enemy is at your side is called elite!

In the middle of the afternoon, sentries kept coming back to report that the main force of tens of thousands of enemy troops was getting closer and closer by land.

Yang Zaixing didn't sleep, and his eyes were bloodshot.

He personally rode horseback to the surrounding area to familiarize himself with the terrain, and then returned to the mountain stronghold for careful inspection. Then they called the generals and carefully arranged the defense tasks. The generals called the officers to make arrangements, but they never disturbed the sleeping soldiers.

Finally, the main enemy force was three or four miles away, and Yang Zaixing shouted: "Don't sleep anymore, get up and prepare for battle!"

One by one, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were yawned and woken up by the officers, who took them to their respective defensive areas.

Outside the stronghold, the Dali army gradually stopped.

Gao Zhenshou personally led the generals and cavalry to the stronghold to observe the situation carefully, holding a pair of binoculars in his hand.

"The enemy must be on guard and can only attack by force." Gao Zhenming said.

Gao Zhenshou said: "It will be dark in an hour, and we haven't even set up camp. There may be an accident when attacking the city now, so we can only surround it first and then attack tomorrow."

"Will the enemy break out at night?" Gao Zhenming said.

Gao Zhenshou smiled and said, "It would be the best if the enemy could break out. They are alone and have been surrounded. How much food and grass can they take away if they break out at night? By then, this isolated army will not only be tired, but also a group of hungry soldiers who are about to run out of food! Tell the generals to guard the camp tonight to prevent the enemy from attacking or breaking out at night. All weapons should be kept by your side, and those who have armor should sleep in armor."

Gao Zhenming was extremely cowardly and said, "We only have more than 40,000 soldiers in total, 5,000 stayed in Shanchan, 3,000 stayed in Guandu, and now there are only more than 30,000 left. The Ming army is very powerful, even if there are only a few thousand soldiers, they should not be underestimated. It's better than..."

"What's worse than?" Gao Zhenshou asked.

Gao Zhenming said:

"Why not let the several thousand soldiers who came by boat from Dianchi Lake go south to guard Wu's Wubao. We will lead the troops to the east, set up camp on the mountain to block the east, and then wait for the reinforcements from the south to arrive. It would be even better if the reinforcements from the west can arrive."

"By then, there will be Shanchan and Guandu in the north, Wu's Wubao and Yangcheng Castle in the south, and our main camp in the east. The Ming army here will be surrounded on three sides and can only jump into Dianchi Lake to the west to escape. When you gather 100,000 troops, are you afraid that you can't take down a small mountain stronghold?"

Gao Zhenshou glared at his brother: "This is just the vanguard of the Guangxi Ming army. By the time you gather 100,000 troops, the main force of the Guangxi Ming army will come. What's more, the Ming army from the north is attacking Shicheng County. Once Shicheng County falls, Shanchan Prefecture will be surrounded. The Ming army here must be eaten as soon as possible!"

"Yes." Gao Zhenming said no more.

But he always felt bad. Could the 30,000-plus Dali troops in front of him really take down the mountain stronghold where thousands of Ming troops were stationed?

Seeing the Dali troops slowly retreating and the enemies in Dianchi Lake landing far away, Yang Zaixing probably guessed that the enemy was going to set up camp.

Yang Zaixing did not send troops to attack, nor did he plan to attack tonight.

"Don't build the siege ladders yet. Use the wood that has been dismantled to reinforce the defense of the mountain stronghold." Yang Zaixing ordered.

Li Shao asked: "Should we attack at night?"

Yang Zaixing shook his head: "The enemy will definitely be prepared, and it will be difficult to succeed tonight. What's more, our soldiers are too tired, so we should take this opportunity to have a good night's sleep tonight."

Cao Xun worried: "We are short of food and grass, and we will run out of food in more than ten days. What should we do if the enemy is always outside? Why not pretend to attack the enemy at night tonight, and when there is trouble, take the opportunity to send 800 elite soldiers to ride horses to attack Wu's Wubao more than 20 miles away. There must be food and grass there, and it is easy to defend."

Yang Zaixing said: "I originally planned to capture Wu's Wubao, but now I have changed my mind. We don't have to do anything, just defend this mountain stronghold."

"But what if there is not enough food and grass?" asked a general named Zhang Zhongfu.

Yang Zaixing smiled and said, "Although we are alone in the deep, we should still trust our allies. Tens of thousands of troops have come south from Guizhou. They have either taken Shicheng or are besieging Shicheng. They will definitely be able to approach Shanchan before we run out of food."

"It's just approaching. We still can't get food supplies." Cao Xun said.

"I understand!"

Li Shao clapped his hands: "Friendly troops may go south to Shanchan at any time, so it is the enemy who should be anxious. These enemy troops in front of us must eat us up as soon as possible before they can go back to defend Shanchan with all their strength. We are like a nail nailed here. If we are not pulled out quickly, the Shanchan defenders will definitely be restless. So, tomorrow the enemy will attack the mountain stronghold fiercely, and we just have to be patient and guard it."

"That's right," Yang Zaixing said, "The enemy doesn't know how much food we have, so they dare not gamble, and dare not wait for us to starve to death. If I were the enemy's commander, I would also choose to attack the mountain stronghold fiercely."

After explaining this truth thoroughly, all the generals laughed happily.

Chenggong Mountain Stronghold has no decent castle, and the mountain is not high and steep. Only in some key places, stone fortifications are built, and the rest are wooden fences.

Such a stronghold naturally has no defensive power.

But these thousands of Ming troops are all mountain infantry and mountain cavalry, and the infantry are all trained in the firearm version of the mandarin duck formation. Even if there is no fortress, it is still a home battle!

Except for a few soldiers on duty, the Ming soldiers all slept happily.

Woke up in the morning, full of energy, sweeping away the fatigue of the previous few days.

In the middle of the morning, more than 30,000 enemy troops approached the stronghold again, intending to attack from the east and north. Since Dianchi Lake is not far to the west, this is also in line with the military strategy of surrounding three and missing one.

As the enemy army got closer and closer, the Ming auxiliary soldiers were still slowly moving stones.

They found small stones from all over the mountains, carried them to the mountain stronghold and broke them into stones - the tiger squat cannon shotgun shells they brought with them had been used up long ago, and it was not convenient to pick them up, so they could use the broken stones as shotgun shells for defense.

No thunder bombs were brought.

It would be useless if they brought too few; it would be too heavy if they brought too many, which would not be conducive to a quick march.

Thousands of Ming soldiers stood or sat, wiping their weapons leisurely.

Some even took a nap to keep themselves awake. They were arranged as the reserve team, and it was still too early for them to fight in the battle.

Yang Zaixing stood on a low rubble wall, watching the enemy troops below the mountain deployed their troops.

He had thousands of elite soldiers in his hands, and he also occupied the mountain stronghold.

Not to mention that the enemy in front of him could not be attacked, even if the enemy's strength doubled, Yang Zaixing was confident that he could defend until the friendly forces besieged Kunming.